Furniture.



A. J. DAVIS.

rummuna. I APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1913.

Patented M1213, 11.915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES:

,A. .l. DAVlS.

FURNITURE,

APPLICATlON FILED JULY a. ma.

- Patented Apr. 113, 1915.

2 SHEETS-$113111 2.

THE MORRIS PETERS O1. PHOlD-LITHQ. WASHINGTDN. D. C.

pivrrnn srarns rarnivr opinion.

ARTHUR J. DAVIS, 0F KINGSTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

FURNITURE.

earse.

Application filed July 3, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furniture, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to furniture, and more particularly to drawers for desks, tables or similar articles, adapted to support typewriting machines, although the drawer may also be used in cabinets or other articles of furniture.

One object is to provide a drawer having a series of compartments s0 arranged that the contents of the several compartments, as paper sheets, envelops, and. the like, will lie in a compact pack without slumping to the bottom of the compartment, or fanning out. Hence the operator when withdrawing a sheet or an envelop, may lay his fingers on the upper or outermost sheet to readily and quickly remove it.

To accomplish this result, I arrange the compartments at an incline, the upper ends of the compartments opening toward or facing in part, the position usually occupied by the operator, to enable him by a natural movement of the hand and arm, to insert his hand therein. The lower walls of the compartments support the flat sheets and prevent them from shifting from side to side of the compartments, fanning out, or slumping toward the bottoms of their respective compartments.

Another object of my invention, and one which renders it peculiarly adapted for typewriter tables and desks, is the provision of means to effect the spontaneous alinement or squaring of edges of superposed sheets, preparatory to inserting the pack in a type- Writing machine.

Heretofore, it has been customary for the operator to lift the carbon copy sheet, the carbon paper, and the original sheet from their respective drawers or compartments, and assemble them in superposed relation on a flat surface from whence they are then picked up and held in a pack with the leading edges of the sheets approximately horizontal. The pack of sheets is next allowed to slide between the fingers and strike the flat surface to aline or square the edges of the pack.

With my invention, the sheets may be more easily and quickly drawn from their Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 777,159.

respective compartments and dropped or laid either singly'or in a pack upon an inclined shelf or support having a stop thereon, the shelf preferably being mounted on the drawer. The sheets slide or drift down the inclined surface of the shelf until an rested by the stop which thus spontaneously alines or squares the edges of the superposed sheets, thus enabling a more facile and rapid operation over the old method of alining the edges of the sheets.

A further object is to exclude dirt and dust from the compartments in which it usually collects, to which end, the shelf or support, when lowered, lies over and closes theupper open ends of the compartments to prevent the entry of extraneous material.

Theshelf, when in lowered position, also serves as a support for a stenographic pad, sheets of paper, or what not, and the side of the drawer nearest the space usually occupied by the operator is undercut or slanted downwardly and away from the operator to afford room for the operators knees when facing or partially facing the drawer. 'lhus said shelf serves a variety of functions, operating, when closed, as a leaf to support writing materials, and as a cover to exclude dust from the drawer, and when raised, operating as an alining device for the edges of the sheets placed thereon.

Other objects and advantages will be more fully disclosed hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a desk or table equipped with one embodiment of my invention, the drawer being pulled out and the self-operating alining device raised to effective position. Fig. 2 is a. fragmentary perspective view of the drawer alone, to show the shelf or support closed, the upper face of which lies substantially flush with the upper edge of the front end of the drawer. Fig. 8 is a vertical cross-section through the drawer and desk, the drawer being closed. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the drawer and desk on line a2w of Fig. 8, parts being omitted.

Legs 1 (Fig. 1) support the top 2 of a desk or table, having a rectangular drawer opening 3 therein.

A drawer having front and rear ends 4 and 5, and sides 6 and 7 slides in and out of the drawer opening. The drawer is of substantially trapezoidal shape in cross-section Patented Apr. 13, 1915..

(Fig. 3), the inner side wall 6, or that near est the position usually occupied by the operator, being inclined 'or slanted downwardly away from the operator (Figs. 1 and 3) to afford room for the operators knees when the operator faces the drawer.

The wall 6 extends downwardly from the upper left hand corner of the drawer opening 3 to a point some distance from the lower left hand corner of the drawer opening, and the drawer preferably rests on runners 8 slidable on the bottom of the drawer opening. The space between the left hand runner and the left hand corner of the drawer opening is occupied by a fillerpiece 9to hold the runner in place. The runners enable the drawer to be fully withdrawn to permitthe contents of the drawer to be readily. removed or replaced without contact with the upper edge of the drawer opening.

As the drawer is drawn or slid outwardly.

' an abutment 10 (Fig. 4) on the bottom of the drawer strikes a pair of stops 11 at the outer ends of the runners 8 to draw the runners out as the drawer is pulled outfarther. Strips or ways 12 guide and support the runners againstv tilting,'to support the drawer, in its horizontal position. Checks 13 fixed to the bottom of the drawer opening in the paths of stops 11 at therear ends of the runners, arrest, the drawer as I prevent the disconnection. of the drawer and the "latter clears the drawer opening, to

desk- The interior of the drawer is divided into compartments of various sizes by partitions 14, preferably inclined to lie parallel with v the side 6 of the drawer (see Figs. 1 and 8),

so that the openings of the compartments partially face the operators position. By this arrangement, the stock or piles of sheets or envelops in the various compartments are caused to lie at an angle with their upper ends toward the operator, and are supported on their sides as well as on their lower edges, which. prevents the sheets from fanning back andforth on their edges, as would be thecase if they were supported in vertical position, and also reduces the tendency of the sheets to bend and slump down toward the bottoms of their compartments. Furthermore, by supporting the piles of sheets in this inclined position, the outermost sheet lies apart from the upper wall of its compartment to allow the operator to readily insert his fingers in the compartment between such upper wall and the pile of sheets, grasp the upper. edge of the outermost sheet between his; thumb and finger, separate it from the pile and remove it without having bent or injured the edges of the remaining sheets in the pile, by striking the 7 ends of his fingers thereagainst when inserting his hand, as would happen if the pile of sheets was held vertically, as usual. Nor

does the .operator need to devote his attention to the act of withdrawing a sheet from its compartment.

Preparatory to making carbon copies of typewritten matter, it is customary for the operator to place the original sheet, the carbon sheet and the blank sheet facing the carbon paper (which I will call the copy sheet to distinguish it from the original) in a pile on a horizontal part of his desk, then pick up the pile or pack of sheets, hold the opposite side edges of the pile of sheets be tween the fingers and thumb of his right and left hands, respectively, raise the pack above the horizontal surface and allow it to slide through his fingers and thumbs and strike against the desk to aline the edges of the sheets, after which he presses his fin gers against the sheets to hold them where adjusted and introduces the leading edges of the pack into the machine.v To obviate this manipulation and reduce the time and labor incident to alining the edges of a pack of sheets, I provide a support, as a lid or shelf 15, preferably hinged near one edge, as at 16, to the inner faces of the. front and rear ends 4 and 5 of the drawer. When in closed position, (Figs. 2 and 3), the shelf lies over the top of the drawer and covers the various compartments to exclude dust, dirt and other extraneous material therefrom, and prevents the contents of the drawer from becoming soiled thereby. The shelf, when closed, may rest upon the upper edges of the partitions 1 1 and the inner wall 5 of the drawer, as well as upon a led e 17 (Figs. 1 and 2) on the inner face 0 the front end 5, and serves to support writing materials, as a stenographers pad, paper sheets, or the like. The inwardly and downwardly slanting side wall 6 of the drawer by affording knee room enables the operator to assume an easy position when facing the work on the support 15. \Vhen closed, the upper surface of the shelf lies substantially flush with the upper edge of the front end 5 to enable the drawer to slide into the opening 3.

hen the drawer is pulled out to its full? est extent, so that the support 15 clears the desk the latter is raised by the operator, and tilted to the right (in the drawings) until it strikes against the outer side wall 7 of the drawer which supports the shelf in inclined position. The shelf when raised, permits access to the contents of the compartments. The inner side wall 6 may have a finger space 18 formed therein to enable the free edge of the shelf to be readily grasped.

A bead or stop 19 extends along the lower edge of the shelf and is exposed when the shelf is raised. All the operator needs to do, is to withdraw the sheets from their compartments and drop or lay them on the inclined shelf, down which the sheets slide or drift until arrested by the bead or stop against which the sheets settle and by which they are alined, or squared. The bead l9 lies below the upper edges of the front and rear ends 4 and 5 of the drawer so that the end edges of the sheets contact one or the other or both of the inner vertical faces of the ends of the drawer, which operate to aline such end edges of the sheets while the bead alines the side edges. The operator then picks up the pack of sheets and, holding them against disarrangement, introduces the leading edge of the pack into the machine. Thus the shelf serves not only as a closure for the drawer, and as a leaf to support writin materials, but also as an alining device or the paper sheets.

It will be remembered that the inner side wall 6 of the drawer slants inwardly (relatively to the drawer opening 3) whereby space is left between the wall 20 of the drawer opening and the slanting side 6 of the drawer. Such space may be utilized by affixing one or more racks 21 to the side 6 of the drawer to hold pencils, pens, erasers or other articles where they will be convenient for use and not become lost or hidden under papers on the desk.

The front end 5 of the drawer corresponds in shape to the drawer opening 3 to fill and close the latter when the drawer'is shut.

Changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the several parts set forth, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

That I claim as new, is

1. The combination with a drawer; of a support or shelf hinged to cover and uncover the open top of the drawer, said shelf, when raised to afiord access to the drawer, assuming an incline, and resting at a point above its lower edge against the adjacent side wall of the drawer to arrest further travel of the shelf and support it in its inclined position; and a stop on the shelf to support and aline the edges of sheets dropped or laid on the shelf.

2. The combination with a drawer; of a lid or shelf hinged thereto and shiftable to cover or uncover the opening in the drawer; and a stop on the lid or shelf located below the upper edges of the end walls of the drawer, and inside the drawer opening, to coact with the inner face of either end wall of the drawer, when the shelf is raised to uncover the drawer, to arrest and aline the edges of sheets laid or dropped on the shelf.

3. A paper container and alining device comprising a drawer; a shelf or support pivoted to the drawer and adapted to lie at an incline, to afford complete access to the drawer; and a stop thereon, located below the upper edge of the drawer to coact with one end wall of the drawer, to arrest and square the edges of sheets dropped or laid on the shelf when the shelf is in raised position.

4. The combination with a drawer; of a support or shelf shiftable to cover and uncover the drawer, said shelf adapted to lie at an incline when raised to afford access to the drawer, with its lower edge slightly below the upper edge of an end wall of the drawer; and a bead along the lower edge of the shelf to coact with said end wall to arrest and square the edges of sheets laid or dropped on the shelf.

5. The combination with a drawer; of a lid pivoted to the end walls of the drawer opening and shiftable to cover and uncover the drawer opening, said lid when raised to afford access to the drawer, lying parallel with the direction of travel of the drawer and supported at an incline by the outer side wall of the drawer against which the lid rests and which limits the swing of the lid in one direction; and a stop brought to efiective position when the lid is raised, to aline the edges of sheets laid or dropped thereon.

Signed at Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, this 30 day of June 1913, in the presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR J. DAVIS.

In the presence of W'. H. CHAPIN, FELIX DOHERTY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

